In early 1866, Frederick A. Giles received two separate patents for watch plate designs - one would become the iconic "butterfly cutout" that collectors associate with watches from the United States Watch Company (Marion), while the other was never used in general production. Giles patented his butterfly cutout plate in March 1866, approximately two weeks after his first design. Both creations featured cutouts to expose the escapement through the top plate... Continue Reading

by Nathan Moore, 3 days ago

(A guest post by Jonathan Luysterborghs) Do you have the correct replacement dial in your kit for the vintage pocket watch that you’re considering buying despite its present dial being cracked and cratered or possibly missing?  Are you SURE? The dials that you have in stock may have the desired signature, numeral set, minute track, and marginals; but sorting through a stock of vintage dials can be confusing and frustrating enough when considering the proper size, the changes in style at different eras of production, the correct signature if it’s a private label or named grade; and if the manufacturer used different dial feet locations within the same size and model of movements it could make you decide to call it a day and wait to purchase a movement that already has a viable, appropriate dial installed.  Few people are very good at accurately visualizing the minute track in reverse while looking at the dial feet on the back of an enamel pocket watch dial. At some point, I decided to just make a cheap, simple tool to avoid that particular brand of anxiety in my time spent with Seth Thomas pocket watches.  I would like to share the tool with you so that you can use it with whichever brands of pocket watches you enjoy exploring. In this article, you will find a detailed description of the simple tool and several practice exercises demonstrating its use with pocket watch dials of various sizes. I found an image of a blank dial online and scaled it to accommodate an 18-size pocket watch dial in its center area between the markings in the minute track.  I used a red colored pencil to connect the 0 minutes mark to the 30 minutes mark and the 15 minutes mark to the 45 minutes mark... Continue Reading

by Jonathan Luysterborghs, 1 week ago

Earlier this week, I purchased a Seth Thomas pocket watch without seeing images of the movement, sometimes called "buying the dial." While the watch is in transit, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compile my observations to try to identify the movement behind the dial - just for fun. This particular dial caught my attention because it was double-sunk - a feature typically reserved for the finer Seth Thomas grades. The watch was priced reasonably enough to take a chance on, even though there were no photos of the movement. Anytime I purchase by "buying the dial," I am prepared for the possibility of a disappointing result - one time, the dial did not even match the manufacturer of the movement! A few assumptions are required when jumping into a deal like this - assumptions that very well could end up being incorrect... Continue Reading

by Nathan Moore, 2 weeks ago